Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Budget airline Ryanair has been told to withdraw an advert featuring a model in schoolgirl-style clothes and a headline "hottest back to school fares".

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the "irresponsible" image appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour.

The advert shows the model with a bare midriff in a short skirt, tie, shirt and knee-high socks in a classroom.

Ryanair refused to withdraw the image and said the ruling was "censorship".

The advert, which was printed in three newspapers reaching 3.5 million readers - the Herald, Daily Mail and Scottish Daily Mail - publicised flights from £10 one way.

'Widespread offence'

It prompted 13 complaints to the ASA from readers who found it offensive and, after an investigation, the watchdog ruled the advert breached the advertising code's rules on social responsibility and decency.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Israel has demanded Egypt take action, as it is worried about arms smuggling.

yeah, it's reassuring to see how the $30 billion package in military aid to israel, and the $20 billion in humvees and guided bombs to saudi arabia that bushy took on his 'peace trip' to the middle east is obviously working wonders...

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

just watched this great documentary about the death of GM's electric car, the EV1.

simply put, it's a must-see.

when GM was still offering leases, my mate and i were in a bmw m3 lightweight in D.C. and we saw one pull up next to us at a traffic light on 14th st. the car was being driven by a GM test driver and we asked him how fast it was. he shouted to us that at GM's test track, they had taken one up to 180mph!!! and the one he was driving wasn't limited to the standard 80mph.

in disbelief, we asked him to floor it away from the lights, which he happily did. all we heard was a whirring and in an instant he was gone and we couldn't keep up with him, despite the bmw having 300 bhp (courtesy of a management chip upgrade) and my mate was completely flooring it. the amazing EV1 just pulled away from us.

an incredible car and experience, even more so having just watched this eye-opening documentary.

Sisters Erin Gordon, 31, and Molly Flaherty, 21, recalled going to the annual march known as the ''March for Life'' with their parents when they were growing up on New York's Long Island.

Gordon, who now lives in Richmond, Va., said she enjoyed the feeling of unity at the march.

''You really see that the abortion laws in the United States really don't reflect the heart of America,'' she said.

no, they represent the wisdom of a nation.

for a country with so many that are stuck in the dark ages when it comes to this issue and the so-called "rights" of all unborn life, it's incredible that the very same people vote for a government that has dismantled help programs and care for those unfortunates that have already been born.

these are the programs that suffer when they hand out tax cuts.

john edwards may be the best man for the job when it comes to free health care, but americans just don't want to pay taxes. tax has become a dirty word in the USA. until then, it's everyman, or woman for themselves. even now, as the country bleeds to the tune of $2 billion a week it hasn't got in iraq, the republicans still want to cut taxes!

so contrary to what all the presidential candidates say (except john edwards), the richest nation on earth is not the greatest nation on earth.

you have to presume that evolution and the big bang receive similar levels of support, no matter what evidence is presented contrary to what the bible says (like fossil records and cosmic background radiation)

the nano. not the ipod, but take a good look at this, the world's cheapest car. it may look friendly and cute, but this automobile is every environmentalist's nightmare. it has the distinction of having the very clear potential to do more harm to the planet than any other single vehicle that has ever been built.

2. it is specifically designed to enable people in developing countries to make the move to four wheels.

3. it is being launched in india, home to the world's most populated city, mumbai, with 14 million people. india's domestic car industry and market is predicted to soar in the coming years due to the country's fast-growing economy and increased consumer wealth. everybody it seems, wants a taste of what the west has had for decades.

within 5 years, i reckon that there will be over 5 million of these on the roads in india alone. the makers plan to export to other developing countries...

to give you some idea what those numbers mean, the ford f-series pick-up truck has been the number 1 selling vehicle in the united states for the past 31 years. it has sold a total of 25 million vehicles. the best selling vehicle ever is the toyota corolla which started production in 1966 (35 million sold).ford has sold 10 million of its taurus models since introducing it in 1985.

within just 20 years, this vehicle could possibly be the biggest selling automobile of all time, and while that is good news for some, it is bad news for any likelihood that as a planet we will be able to reach our peak greenhouse gasses emissions and for them to begin to decline in the short to medium term, as critically outlined in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-syr.htm

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

ruling out any republican candidate, since all they can talk about is border security, illegal immigration, faith and tax cuts, we look to the democratic party to give us a new perspective.

john edwards: of all the candidates, i like what he says the most, but he won't get the votes he needs. bush didn't get voted into office by the rich, he was voted into office on promises of tax cuts by all those who aren't rich that wanted more money in their pockets. twice. americans are greedy and they have very short memories (katrina & new orleans - republican supporters)

everybody who voted for bush can pat themselves on the back for what they have personally done for the united states and everyone living in it, especially those less fortunate than themselves. best not to dwell on environmental issues too much, either.

hillary clinton: two things hillary. one; if someone asks a question about your hair, don't respond with an answer about this election being about this nation's future children. this election is about you and me, and everybody else in the country, right NOW. she won't be making any decisions when those children she talks about are old enough to be conscious of her. two: i wish she'd stop talking as if she was already president..."when i'm president..." a little presumptuous.

barack obama: i think he'll make a great statesman. he speaks of unity, and you when he addresses people, instead of himself. something this country sorely needs.

i predict obama wins in tonight's new hampshire primary by at least +15%

...of course, i had not taken into account that new hampshire residents don't pay any state income tax, and it doesn't have crash helmet laws...all very unreasonable.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Global temperature for 2008 is expected to be 0.37 °C above the long-term (1961-1990) average of 14.0 °C, the coolest year since 2000, when the value was 0.24 °C.

For 2008, the development of a strong La Niña in the tropical Pacific Ocean will limit the warming trend of the global climate. During La Niña, cold waters upwell to cool large areas of the ocean and land surface temperatures. The current La Niña event will weaken only slowly through 2008, disappearing by the end of the year.

These cyclical influences can mask underlying warming trends. The fact that 2008 is forecast to be cooler than any of the last seven years (and that 2007 did not break the record warmth set on 1998) does not mean that global warming has gone away. What matters is the underlying rate of warming - the period 2001-2007 with an average of 0.44 °C above the 1961-90 average was 0.21 °C warmer than corresponding values for the period 1991-2000."

It is most unlikely that 2008 will be as warm as or warmer than the current warmest year of 1998, which was 0.52 °C above the long-term 1961-1990 average because it was dominated by an extreme El Niño.

The current La Niña event is now the strongest since 1999-2000. The lag between La Niña and the full global surface temperature response means that the cooling effect of La Niña is expected to be a little greater in 2008 than it was during 2007.

...i liken the united states' position on refusal to adopt binding emission targets to a supertanker at sea. if you want to slow the thing down, it's a good idea to start braking early, except they don't seem to think so, and that by doing nothing now is somehow a better idea (because of the economy) er, last time i checked, it wasn't looking that great. sub-prime melt-down, unemployment rising, housing market slump, fear of recession...

in response to people telling me they like my photos, i thought i'd have a go at selling some images through a stock agency.

i've joined istockphoto, and my plan is to upload one image a week. they only want images that meet their technical guidelines, and they review every image before it is accepted and appears on the website. it takes a few days to hear back from the site via e-mail if an image is accepted or not. all in all a pretty lengthy process, but once accepted, that image can be purchased and used by anyone using the site, and the photographer receives a small commission payment.

come on redskins! less praying, more football we can be proud of. for once...

"as sean taylor watches from the heavens above..." as washington takes the lead in the 4th quarter.

give me a fucking break! he's dead. he's not watching anything. as if the notion that we somehow have a conscious entity once we leave this life. never mind that it's automatically presumed that he's in heaven...ridiculous.

nbc and chris collinsworth should be ashamed of themselves.

fuckin' A. get religion out of everything we see and hear. please!

update: i don't hear any of the redskins shouting "we lost by 21!, we lost by 21!"

A New York window cleaner who survived a 47-storey fall from a skyscraper last month is making a gradual recovery - in what doctors say is a "miracle".

Alcides Moreno, 37, tumbled some 500ft (150m) to the ground in a scaffolding accident that killed his brother.

Mr Moreno suffered severe brain, spine and abdomen injuries and both his legs, his right arm and ribs were broken.

But after undergoing a series of surgeries he is now awake, able to talk and is expected to walk again.

"If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one," Dr Philip Barie, a surgeon at New York's PresbyterianHospital where Mr Moreno is being treated, was quoted as saying by the New York Times newspaper.

"Above 10 floors, most of the time we never see the patients because they usually go to the morgue... this is right up there with those anecdotes of people falling out of airplanes and surviving," Dr Barie said.

mr. moreno, you are one lucky bugger! it's not often you get to survive the laws of physics when probability says that you won't.

luck, chance, probablity, statistics. nutty cannot deny that all these are factors in life, but miracles? sorry. the statistics tell a different story.

i don't believe in miracles, dr. barbie, which is why "Above 10 floors, most of the time we never see the patients because they usually go to the morgue..." the difference is that all those people that do die don't get to have their stories heard. now, a miracle would be if instead of dying most of the time, these people survived, like mr. moreno.

a case of the exception proving the rule.

strange that when something amazingly lucky happens it's suddenly a miracle, and we conveniently overlook the normality of death in such situations.

i wonder how many people died in new york city yesterday in accidents. i'm sure mr. moreno doesn't see his own brother's death as a miracle...

miracle: An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God:

any evangelical iowan christians that absolutely, truly believe in god and miracles are welcome to throw themselves off a 47 storey building to put their faith to the ultimate test. i somehow doubt that they will survive. it won't be because of god's plan, but simple laws of physics. the same ones that govern us all when we walk, run, drive, fly in airplanes, or play golf (good or bad).

actually, a practical demonstration would be great, because i'm sick of hearing how great god is from all you evangelicals and seeing what a crap job he's done with his little experiment. so go ahead. you have nothing to fear anyway. if you survive your 500ft fall it will be a miracle, and if you don't, you'll be in heaven and there'll be a few less extremist voters around come election day. as i see it, it's a win-win for everbody.

as for mr. moreno, wow! all the best to him. he had to be thinking "i'm dead, i'm dead" all the way down.